Written Answers

Written Answers

Wednesday 16 August 2000

Scottish Executive

Enterprise

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who authorised payment of £670,000 for a call centre in Selkirk.

Henry McLeish: Authority for the conversion of the Claridge Mill property in Selkirk was granted by the Boards of Scottish Enterprise Borders and Scottish Enterprise (Projects Advisory Group).

Enterprise

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Borders small businesses applied for funding from Scottish Enterprise Borders in 1998-99, 1999-2000 and so far this year, how much each application was for and, of those that were successful, what amount was allocated to each.

Henry McLeish: Details of individual applications for grant from local enterprise companies are not published to protect the commercial confidentiality of businesses. A summary of awards to small businesses in the Borders is given in the tables below:

  


1998-99 


Approved Applications 


SE Borders Funding 


Private Funds Levered 




Start-up 


290 


£235,800 


£1,808,984 




Small Firms Development Programme 


93 


£64,400 


£64,400 




New Venture Development Programme 


29 


£132,000 


£264,000 




Total 


412 


£432,200 


£2,137,384 




  


1999-2000 


Applications/ Approvals 


SE Borders Funding 


Private Funds Levered 




Start-up 


275 


£206,969 


£1,572,964 




Small Firms Development Programme 


154 


£102,800 


£102,800 




New Venture Development Programme 


64 


£199,000 


£398,000 




Total 


493 


£508,769 


£2,073,764 




  


2000-01 (to 31 July) 


Applications / Approvals 


SE Borders Funding 


Private Funds Levered 




Start-up 


112 


£66,500 


£505,400 




Small Firms Development Programme 


45 


£49,760 


£49,760 




New Venture Development Programme 


36 


£119,800 


£239,600 




Total 


193 


£236,060 


£794,760

Enterprise

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, following expenditure of £600,000 by Scottish Enterprise Borders (SEB) on securing premises in Selkirk for a call centre and £70,000 on retraining redundant workers specifically as call centre operators, what efforts are being made by it and SEB to ensure that call centre companies are located in the Borders.

Henry McLeish: The Selkirk call centre is being actively promoted by Scottish Enterprise Borders and the Rural Unit of Locate in Scotland.

  Locate in Scotland has considerable experience in attracting call centre operators to Scotland and this expertise is being used in relation to Selkirk. Confirmation of the inclusion of Selkirk in the recently approved Assisted Areas Map for Scotland will be an additional marketing advantage in favour of Selkirk.

Enterprise

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the £600,000 spent by Scottish Enterprise Borders on securing and adapting premises in Selkirk specifically as a call centre and the further £70,000 spent retraining redundant workers as call centre operators was an appropriate expenditure of public funds given the failure so far to secure a call centre.

Henry McLeish: In its Final Report in March 1999, the Borders Working Party highlighted a shortage of readily available industrial premises as being a major impediment to the attraction of inward investment into the area.

  The Borders Working Party also highlighted the success which Scotland is enjoying in the attraction of call centres and proposed that an advanced build call centre facility be created in the Borders. That facility was created at Selkirk.

Gingerbread Scotland

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4845 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 15 March 2000, why Gingerbread Scotland’s grant applications were unsuccessful.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive recognises the important work of lone parent families support groups. However, the Executive receives a large number of applications for funding from voluntary organisations and we are unable to meet all of them.

  Gingerbread’s application for core funding in 1997-98 was rejected on the basis that the application provided insufficient information about the organisation’s proposed activities and proposals for evaluating their performance. Gingerbread submitted a further application for core funding in 1999-2000 but this was unsuccessful due to the large volume of applications, the need to prioritise and to avoid duplication of funding for similar organisations.

National Archives

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it expects the National Archives of Scotland Executive Agency to achieve in the financial year 2000-01.

Mr Jim Wallace: We have set the National Archives of Scotland the following key targets for 2000-01:

  

To maintain administration costs at 18% of total current expenditure 
and direct service provision at 82%.


To increase the number of new catalogue entries available for public 
scrutiny on the electronic system by 25,000.


To produce material for readers in 92.5% of cases in 30 minutes 
or less for material from the same building, and in two days or less 
for material from elsewhere.


To issue replies to 60% of correspondence within 15 days and 90% 
within 25 days.


To process 90% of extracts for legal customers in four working days; 
and to process 92.5% of rapid copies within 24 hours.

National Lottery

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been allocated any funds generated by the National Lottery for health purposes and, if so, whether any of this money will be used for the purchase of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners.

Susan Deacon: The New Opportunities Fund (NOF) was established as a new Lottery distributor under the National Lottery Act 1998 to make grants to health, education and environment projects under initiatives specified by the Government.

  Responsibility for all applications, processes and funding decisions rests with the NOF Board at a UK level. The Scottish member of the NOF Board is Mr David Campbell, Chairman, Health Education Board for Scotland.

  The NOF initiative on cancer in the UK totals £150 million of which £16.7 million is available for Scottish programmes in cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care. The NOF’s Scottish Cancer Programme involves a two-stage application process which is currently underway. Scottish health boards, who are co-ordinating regional and national applications portfolios, have recently been advised by NOF of those bids which have been approved to go forward to Stage 2.

Sex Offenders

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of additional resources has been given towards the maintenance of the register of sex offenders, broken down by police force.

Mr Jim Wallace: Funding for the police is provided annually through the Grant Aided Expenditure process, which, for the current year, was based on estimates supplied by police forces. Funding is allocated in its entirety and not on the basis of specific operational requirements or policing tasks. The deployment of resources and the setting of operational priorities are matters for the Chief Constable.

Water Supply

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether water filtration plants in the constituency of Roxburgh and Berwickshire are of a satisfactory standard.

Sarah Boyack: The condition of the water supply facilities in the Roxburgh and Berwickshire area is generally sound but refurbishment and renewal is required in certain areas. East of Scotland Water Authority has improvements planned for 2001-02.